Liberace Live From Heaven

Liberace Live from Heaven is set
outside the Pearly Gates, where the
outrageously camp pianist has just arrived, along with his diamante studded
Baby Grand. St Peter, voiced by Stephen Fry, can’t decide whether to admit him
or send him to the “eternal down below”, so the audience is cast as a jury of
angels, who must decide his eternal fate. What follows is part biography, part
cabaret, part pantomime as the self proclaimed ‘Mr Showmanship’ gives the
performance of his afterlife.

Bobby Crush as Liberace is compelling grotesque, dripping
with rhinestones and camp charm. He gives us a taste of a real Liberace show,
from the excellent piano playing to the eye watering costumes, frequently
asking members of the audience to help him change into something “more
spectacular.

The giggling and grinning do become rather tiresome
however, so it is fascinating when Crush lets the smile slip. Liberace was a mysterious
character, an apparently overt homosexual who would sue anyone who suggested
he was gay. The moral implications of this are never satisfactorily explored,
nor is the sinister relationship between the performer and teenager Scott Thorson. Instead, Liberace
Live from Heaven cops out with sentimental platitudes.

By the end of the show both AIDS and homosexuality have
been neatly explained by God (voiced brilliantly by Victoria Wood) and, when it
comes to the vote, not a single member of the audience of angels chooses to
send Liberace to hell. Why would we? Liberace Live from Heaven
is brilliantly entertaining, although it’s a shame it didn’t dare go
darker. Like the Liberace Ambrosia cocktails created for the show: sickly sweet
but fantastic fun.

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